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A team of leading real estate professionals are to help Swansea Council create a community center in an existing building in the city center.
They are experts in design, architecture, engineering, project and cost management.
The team will help the council find the former BHS and What! Building on Oxford Street into a multipurpose venue offering a range of important public services.
This will secure jobs in the city center, increase pedestrian frequency for surrounding companies and use a prominent building for the long term. It will help the city cope with the economic shock of the pandemic.
Led by project and cost management specialist Coreus Group, the community hub team includes architects Austin Smith Lord, mechanical and electrical engineers SDS, civil engineers Jubb, and lead designer PHD Property Advisory.
Three of the companies (Note: Coreus Group, Austin Smith Lord & Jubb) have offices in South Wales.
Council Chairman Rob Stewart said:
“Our multidisciplinary design team will be working with the officials on this major project. You are a top-class team with great experience in developing high-quality public spaces.
“We want to give residents easier access to services than ever before, avoid the cost of building a new structure, reduce overheads and help revitalize the city center, which is already a billion pounds sterling revitalized.
“Our new community hub will be accessible, conveniently located and digitally activated; We think the former BHS is ideal as it is within walking distance of the shops, services, parking and public transport in the city center.
“It will be accessible to all and offer a range of services in a welcoming environment where people can meet and take part in social activities, study and support groups.
“It will provide flexible housing for third party, public and private companies that support the ethos of a community hub. Flexible, collaborative space will encourage a coordinated approach to improving people’s quality of life. “
The tasks of the planning team – selected through a competitive tendering process – include carrying out a feasibility study of how the building can accommodate the proposed services and developing innovative and flexible solutions for the transformation.
James Colthart, Regional Director of the Coreus Group, said:
“We are very excited to be involved in such an important project that is part of the city council’s ongoing investments in the renewal of the city center.
“Our team of specialists is passionate about rejuvenating existing buildings and finding new, innovative ways to meet the needs of the local community.
“We look forward to working closely with the agency and key stakeholders to create an exceptional, high-quality public building in the heart of the city.”
The community has acquired the leasehold shares in the former BHS building and will renovate the premises with the aim of opening it as a community hub in 2023.
The building was identified as a potential location for the community center as the shopkeepers recently notified the city council that they intended to vacate this location and focus their retail efforts on other locations in Swansea.
The council will analyze the responses to the public survey and will use them to draw up plans for the building. The proposals are at an early stage and no decisions have been taken yet.
The community center is intended to house a number of community services with a direct public function, as well as some other important non-urban services. It could house a library, a center for local studies and archive, a center for family history, a center for lifelong learning, a community and activity room, and an employability center.
It could provide community events, opportunities for community engagement, and a point of contact for people to meet.
It will strengthen community cohesion, provide opportunities for self development and growth, and promote digital inclusion, wellbeing and unity.
More: www.swansea.gov.uk/communityhub
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